Microphone Cake Cones

Ingredients

1 box store-bought cake mix

A few drops black food coloring

2 cans (16 oz. each) vanilla frosting

24 ice cream cones

1 cup silver dragees

24 pieces (6-inch) black whip licorice

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees . Prepare the cake mix according to box directions. Line two 24-cup mini-muffin tins with liners and fill each with 1 tbsp. batter. (Save any leftover batter for another use.) Bake until set, rotating the pans halfway through, about 12 minutes. Let cool slightly, then remove from the pans and let cool completely. Discard the liners.

Mix the food coloring into the frosting until gray. Use a serrated knife to trim off the domed cupcake tops. Use an offset spatula or the back of a spoon to spread frosting around the inner rim of the cones to affix the cupcakes. Place 1 cake right side up into the cone and frost its top. Stick on a second, trimmed side down. Frost the top.

Working over a bowl, coat the cupcakes in the dragees. With a toothpick, poke a hole in the bottom of a cone and insert a licorice piece. Repeat with the remaining cones.